Foundation garment



March 1940- J. A. AMYOT FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed March 7, 1938 2 sheets-shee t INVENTOR LOUIS-J.A.AMYOT l BY ATTO BNEY v March 5, 1940.

L. J. A. AMYOT 2,192,427

FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed March 7, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR LO U I SJAAMYOT ATTORN EY Patented Mar. 5, 1940 PATENT oFric- FOUNDATION GARMENT Louis Joseph Adjutor Amyot, Quebec, Quebec, C ada A plication-March =7, 1938, Serial No. 194,362

3 Claims.

This invention relates to'brassieres and other bust-moulding garments; and it comprises a body'encircling band of sufficient vertical depth to cover the breasts and diaphragm of the wearer,

the breast covering portions being shaped to provide preformed breast receiving pockets and being reinforced to providefront and side breast control panels which exert uplifting pressure against the lower portions ofthe breasts to give them a high, well separated, rounded appearance when the garment. is fastened about the wearer. The invention further comprises a garment in which the side control panels exert inward as well as upward pressure on thebreasts so that the latter are pushed forward and prevented from spreading toward the armpits when the garment is tightened in place. This feature, in addition to improving the moulding effect of the garment, tends to minimize the breadth of the chest.

The invention further comprises a garment of the character described in which the size of the breasts is minimized by a gradual concave curva ture. of the garment along lines extending from the nipples to the lower edge of the garment, such'curvature being due to the stiffeningand shaping efiect of the front breast control panels and their mode of attachment.

Theinvention further comprises a garment of breast control panels consists, in each instance, of companion sections of cord-stiffened fabric hingedly joined together along one of theafore said lines of curvature extending from the nipples to the lower edge of the garment. This method of reinforcement gives desirable flexibility along the breast minimizing curves and otherwiseenhances the fit and moulding properties of the garment. s

The invention further comprises a garment of the character described .in which. ventilating openings are provided between thehingedly con the character described'in which the diaphragm 'nected edges of the companion reinforcing sections of each front breast control panel.

Other features, advantages and characteristics of the invention will become evident from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

which-- Fig. 1 is a front elevational' view of my improved reinforced bust-moulding garment asit appears when looking toward the outer or facing side.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the garment as it appears when looking toward the inner or lining side to which the reinforcement is applied.

' Fig. 3 is a front perspective View in which the garment is shown substantially as it appears when in use.

-Referring more particularly to the drawings, 5 designates a body encircling band made of any suitable soft, flexible material. As here shown the band comprises four sections designated 8, l, 8 and 9. The outer vertical edges of sections 6 and i are stitched to adjacent edges of sections 8 and 9 to form flat seamslt. Sections 8 and 9 are secured together at the back of the wearer by hooks ll and eyes l2 or other suitable fastening means.

Portions of the inner vertical edges of sections 6 and l are stitched together to form a fiat seam l3 extending'from the lower edge of the garment to a point well below the upper edge. Above the seam [3 the adjacent edges of sections 6 and l are shaped to provide an intervening space 14 over which a section of lace or other reticulate material is appropriately secured. 1

Sections 8 and l are cut on the bias and their 'upper portions are shaped, by darts Hi, to provide the breast pockets l1. Each of these sections is also cut vertically to provide a substan tially central slit I 8 extending from the lower edge of the section to the nipple area IQ of the breast pocket. The material lying at opposite sides of each slit I8 is reinforced to provide a somewhat diamond-shaped stiifened area 20 constituting one of the frontbreast control panels. The area 2! lying between the two stiffened areas 20 is also reinforced to constitutea fiat diaphragm control panel which covers the diaphragm of the wearer and is strongly resistant tostretching and bulging. The areas 22 lying 50 at the outer sides of the stiffened areas 20 are also reinforced to constitute the previously mentioned side'breast-control panels.

The method'of reinforcing the garment at the areas 20, 2| and 22 is clearly shown in Fig. 2. lit! The reinforcement at each area comprises.

companion sections 24 of cord-stiffened fabric such, for example, as that disclosed in my prior U.. s. Patent 2,096,835Qdated October 26,1937.

it. These edges 25 are hingedly' connected by faggoting 25 which also provides for ventilation along the slit H8. The edges 21 and 28 constituting the remaining sides of each triangular section 24 are concavely curved to improve the flt of the garment.

ing sections 24 extend into and stiffen the lower half of the adjacent breast pocket l1. These portions 26 also tend to give the pocket a pointed eifect due to the manner in which their outer side edges 27 converge to a point located within the nipple zone I9.

The reinforcement at the area 2! comprises fabric tension strips '30 having their inner vertical edges joined together at the central vertical seam IS. The outer vertical edges of strips 30 are "convexly curved and are stitched to the adjacentcord-stifiened sections 24 along the.con'

caveedges 28. The lower edges of strips 30incline downwardly to meet in a point at the lower end of thelseam l3 while the upper edges of said strips incline upwardly as they approach the seam 13. This method of fastening the strips 30 gives the desired control-panel efiect to the diaphragm covering area 21 and renders this area stronglyresistant to bulging or stretching.

The reinforcement at each area 22 comprises a tension strip 33 having its outer vertical edge stitched to the band 5 at one of the side seams Hi. The inner vertical edge of strip 33 is convexly curved and is stitched to the adjacent cordstiifened section 24 along the concave edge 28.

The upper edge 34 of each strip 33 is located within the lower portion of the adjacent breast pocket I! and is cut so that it inclines upwardly toward the seam Hl.

It will be noted that each of the tension strips 30 and 33 is made of gradually increasing width toward the lower edge of the garment-so that they may be properly joined to the cord-stiffened sections 24 which gradually diminish in width as they approach the said lower edge of the garment. v When the herein described garment is secured in place about the wearer, theupper porflexed outwardly so that there is a gradual concave curvature of the garment along vertical lines coinciding'with the slits 18 which extend from' flattened out in a desirable manner to; minimize,

the size 'of the breasts.

The upper and lower edgesbf the band 5, to-

gether wtih the lower edges of the tensionstrips 3B and "33, are finished off by appropriate binding strips 3'! and 38, the latter also serving to close off the lower ends of the slits l8.

Having thus described what I now consider to 7 The upper portions 24a of companion. stiffefibe the preferred embodiment of this inventionflt will be understood that various modifications maybe resorted to within the scope and spirit of the appended claims. For example, the ventilating openings provided between the stifiening sections2 l of each front breast-control panel may be eliminated by joining the edges of the slit ill in a closed'seam, overlying the faggoting 2'6.

Having thus described m invention, what I claim is': j v v. "'1. In a bust-molding foundation garmentfa body encircling band including breast covering portions shaped to provide preformed. breast receiving pocketasaid band being provided [with two Vertical slits'each extending from the nipple area of one of the breast receiving pocketsfto the lower edge of the band, the opposite edges of each slit being hingedly connected by'faggoting and reinforcing sections of cord stiffened fabric secured to'the inside of the band at opposite sides of each slit, said reinforcingsections extending the full length of said slits and serving as front breast supporting panels adaptedto support and uplift the breasts when the garment is secured in place about the wearer.

.3..A garment as set forth in claim 1 in which additional reinforcing elements are secured to the inside of the lower portion of the band to provide a diaphragm flattening panel lying between said previously mentioned panels and a pairof outer side panels located immediately" adjacent the outer sides of said first mentioned panels, the upper portions of said outer side panels terminating at points located within the lower halves of the breast pockets.

LOUIS JOSEPH ADJUTQR AMY OT. 

